Orange Whips Whip the Blues Black and Blue (figuratively)

Schlitz (9) vs Blues

Monday November 17th

BU 10:20pm

5-0 win for Schlitz

We are going to Jumpin George Moorachian for a stellar Guest Blog apperance in just a second but the early responders had some nice short and sweet comments about this one.

Dan Gregson with this quick recap: "4-0 shutout win. I shit you not.
Lizzy made some good saves to keep it going.
DWH had a nice fake shot deke on a breakaway like on NHL 92 on Sega GOAL!
Stefan had a nice wrap around that went in and out but was put back in by Dailey I think. I don't know if the refs saw it go in initially on the wrap around.
I had a lay up rebound from Dailey and Elliott. The other goal was either Matvey or Chuck I'm sure they will tell you. The Ice was terrible. We had it in our offensive end for a big portion of the game. Great game by the D blocking shots getting a stick on almost all shots that were incoming."

Stephan Wennik encapsulated the night with these two words: "Lizzy ROCKED!!!!!"

Matvey chimed in with some words too: "Very good game in all phases, except for a couple of breakdowns – Lizzy was there to save us. We generated lot of pressure in their zone. Nice breakouts from our zone. D did a great job jumping on the shooters, not letting them to get many shots off.
Game star for the whole team!"

Now we go to Georgie for the full story. Great work on the ice and at the keyboard this week. Hell, he even outshines the blogger this week given that he's written his post about the correct team. Here's George:

From the start we had a solid 12 skaters show.
The lines were:
On D, you won't find a more solid line up consisting of D1-DWH paired up with Stefan, and D2-Capt George with Marc Valenti
Centers were Mike Daley and Roman.
Wing pairs: 1-Chuckie and Matvey, 2-Danny G. and Mattie E., 3-Kenny Douville and Fitzie
And our gal Lizzy "the puck stops here" DeFlurin

Before the game began I think were all expecting a good game from the Blues. They usually play us tough. But other than a couple of odd man rushes, which Lizzy shut down, Schlitz handled the Blues, seemingly with little effort. Throughout the course of the game the Gold's defense didn't allow many shots, routinely breaking up plays, beating the Blues to the puck, and clearing the zone. Of course there was some excellent back checking, specifically from our speedy centers, Daley and Roman. Solid two-way play, guys. In the Blues end we cycled the puck like I've
never seen before, beating the Blues to the puck, digging in the corners, moving the puck around, and using the points. The forwards were making it happen and skating hard. We applied the pressure like I haven't seen a long time.

Ok. Here's scoring as I remember it, aided by having the score sheet in front of me. Some time during the 1st period, the ice breaker, and as it turns out the game winner, was score on an unassisted end to rush of Schlitz's version of Paul Coffey... DWH. DWH moved around the Blues like that were stationary cones, and once getting to the goalie, brought the puck to his forehand faking the shot, faking the goalie out of his jock, and then bringing the puck to his backhand and putting it away. Sweet moves! The 2nd period would prove to be when the Golden Beer Cans
applied their offensive might, scoring 3 more goals. 2nd goal of the game was after some hard work by Daley, and the Blues goalie leaving a rebound in front of him. Matvey sitting on the doorstep, gathered the puck, and like a true goal scorer, with composure brought the puck to
his forehand and slid the puck between the goalie and right post.
Admittedly I don't recall exactly what happened for the 3rd goal of the game. But, the score sheet says it was Daley assisted by Stefan. Of course the way the Daley and Stefan skated all game, it's only fitting that they figured in the scoring.

4th goal worked out just how I like to see it. Mattie Elliot working hard, as he had done all game, arranged to have puck find it's way to the Blues goal crease. And I was happy to see Gregson, who had set up a camp site there, collect the puck and beat goalie near-side... Nothing but net. That would be all for the 2nd period. But, the Orange Whips weren't done scoring. We had a bit more to do in the 3rd. Of course for the final goal of the game, we would employed the assistance of one of the Blues defensemen. The score sheet says the goal was scored by Chuckie from Matvey. But, these guys were working hard and eventually the puck found its way to the front of the net, only to be redirected by the skate of a Blues defensemen... Five-hole and into the net.

That's how the scoring would end, 5-0 shutout.
We only had 1 penalty in the game. Chuckie got caught for slashing, and had to go to the box for 1:30 minutes... By himself... Then he went free.
A few more game notes:
First of all let me say it was a solid performance all around for the boys (and gal) in Gold. I had very little to complain about our play... And you all know that's a lot coming from Capt George. When we got to the locker room, after the game I asked Lizzy how many shots she thinks saw. She said 2. I think she stopped more than that. But, I guarantee that she didn't see more than 10 shots on net. But, Lizzy stopped the ones that counted... All of them. Great job! Great shutout!!!

Now for my individual player accolades:
Daley was getting after it all night. Skating hard and making plays.
Roman played some of the best hockey I've seen from him. He was skating hard, back checking, covering for the pinching D, heads-ups passing, and even the smart pass to the point on occasion. Great two-play from both of our centers.
The rookie wing pair of Fitzie and Kenny D (Not be confused with Kenny G... He plays for the Blues.) skated with a never say die attitude. I don't think I saw their legs stop moving, except when they were on the bench. The didn't figure in the scoring, but they made life difficult for the Blues.
Chuckie and Matvey played well, skating hard and making plenty of scoring chances. And play after play, Matvey also demonstrated that he was excelling at the mental aspects of the game... Proper positioning, good decisions with the puck, and composure. Smart play!
Any couple of guys that played as good a game as I've seen them play was the wing pair of Gregson and Mattie E. Both of them were moving their legs, digging in the corners, and playing a huge part in the offensive zone cycling clinic we were putting on for the Blues.

OK. OK. I'm not going to call out everyone in the Defensive corps. But, the D shut down the Blues. Without shots making it to the net, it's tough to score. By and large, the Blues didn't do much in the Schlitz defensive end.
And Lizzy... Absolutely solid between the pipes. I don't need to go
into details....SHUTOUT!!!!. 'Nuff Said.

Here's my opinion on stars of the game:
3rd Star: DWH - scored the 1st goal to open the flood gates, which turned out to be the game winner. And he was part of the stellar D corps performance.
2nd Star: All 4 defensemen (Valenti, Stefan, DWH and Capt George) - Like I said earlier, when pucks don't make it to the net, you can't score.
1st Star: Lizzy - the only justification required.... SHUTOUT!!!

Wasn't much of a 4th period. Roman share a beer courtesy of a couple of Blues. And George eventually chatted with the 3 them for a few minutes. Maybe everyone was too tired from kicking Blues ass!!!!

Just a tremendous job Captain. A blogger standing ovation to all contributions this week on the ice and off, great work everyone, terrific victory... and blog.